Manchin booed over 'don't ask' vote

Gay-rights activists on Friday booed the mere mention of newly sworn in Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the only Democrat to join Republicans in blocking a repeal of the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. At a Capitol Hill rally, two West Virginia natives took to the stage and condemned Manchin’s vote on Thursday, issuing veiled threats that they would work against his 2012 reelection if he did not reverse course.

“I was disappointed yesterday in Senator Joe Manchin from the state of West Virginia,” said former Army Sgt. Pepe Johnson, a Clarksburg, W. Va., native who was discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. “I was embarrassed because Joe Manchin decided to be a lone ranger and vote against the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell, saying he’d only been in office for three weeks, said he didn’t have a chance to hear from the people of West Virginia.

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“Well, Joe Manchin, if you can’t hear me now, you better get a hearing aid.”

West Virginia Army National Guard Sgt. Jared Towner, 31, who served three tours of duty in Iraq and is straight, said continued opposition to repeal could cost Manchin the youth vote in two years.

“We are the people that are going to be there, or the people who are not going to be there in 2012” when Manchin faces reelection, said Towner, who lives in Parkersburg. “We fought valiantly for you, senator. We fought valiantly for you. And now it’s time for you to fight valiantly for us.”

In a hastily called vote on Thursday, Democrats fell three votes short of the 60 needed to advance a massive defense bill that included the repeal language. Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who support repeal, swiftly vowed to introduce a new standalone bill in the lame-duck to end “don’t ask.”

A Manchin spokeswoman did not respond to questions about whether the senator would support a standalone bill. But after the Thursday vote, Manchin said the policy should probably be repealed, just not at this time.

"I truly understand that my position will anger those who believe repeal should happen now and for that, I sincerely apologize,” the former West Virginia governor said in a statement. “While I am very sympathetic to those who passionately support the repeal, as a senator of just three weeks, I have not had the opportunity to visit and hear the full range of viewpoints from the citizens of West Virginia."

Manchin’s vote was “unconscionable” considering he took over the Senate seat of the late Robert Byrd, who fought to repeal the policy, said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which sponsored the rally.

“There were high expectations Senator Manchin would follow in the footsteps of Senator Byrd, whose name he invoked repeatedly in the campaign,” Sarvis said. “I haven’t given up hope on Senator Manchin. There’s going to be another round. There will be another vote on this standalone bill in the lame duck, and he’ll have the chance to do the right thing.”